The East Asian Economic Crisis and Labour Migration: A Set-Back for International Economic Integration?

The Asian economic crisis dramatically influenced the context in which a
growing number of international migrants had begun to spread from poorer to more
industrialised countries in East Asia, accompanying the export and FDI booms of the
1990s. Important uncertainties included the impact on clandestine migrant workers,
replacement of migrants by local workers and countervailing pressures for increased
migration in labour exporting countries. The paper argues that the Asian economic crisis
did not change the fundamental trend toward greater mobility within the region. The
labour importers among the crisis countries continued to rely on unskilled migrant
workers in ‘3-D’ jobs in export-oriented industries, and business and professional
migrants played an important role in the recovery. In addition, pressures mounted for
greater international migration of unskilled workers from poorer, labour surplus
countries. However, several countries were forced to develop a more coherent policy
towards migrant workers, in light of the social impact on migrants.